Ingrid Weiss (Female, Dipl. Ing. (FH), diploma in engineering, head of unit) is the head of the SmartCities, Social Innovation and Networks Unit of WIP Renewable Energies. She has been working within WIP since 1989 and has been a senior expert responsible for projects and tasks mainly for the European Commission and for the German Ministries since 1993. She was the coordinator of several projects dealing with implementation, demonstration, research and innovation in the field of renewable technologies and a large part is Solar PV. Since 2005, she has worked in the Secretariat of the European PV Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP PV) and was also a EUREC board member for six years. She is also a member of the scientific committee of the European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC). Ingrid currently coordinates WIP’s participation in H2020 projects, such as Serendi PV, SUPER PV, BIPVBOOST and other projects.

Roch Drozdowski-Strehl is the CEO of IPVF – Institut Photovoltaïque d’Île-de-France and the vice-chairman at the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV). Prior to joining IPVF, he served as research engineer and strategy executive for the ENGIE group, subsequently deputy director & co-principal investigator of the REIDS flagship initiative, NTU - Singapore. Roch is a graduate of Centrale Supélec School of Engineering, the Paris-Sud University Master of Research on Network Industries & Digital Economy, the ENA Master of Governance & Administration and the Stanford Ignite Program on Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Stefan Horstmann has been the chief operations officer (COO) and a member of the IBC Solar AG board of directors since June 2020. As a trained engineer, he gained several years of experience in management positions at an international level in strategic and operational supply chain management as well as IT. The focus of his IT activities in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology sector have focused on ERP software, process design, organisational development and project management. At IBC SOLAR, Horstmann is responsible for logistics, purchasing, quality assurance, product management, IT, processes and organisation. As COO, he also contributes to internal networking at IBC SOLAR to position the company for success in national and international photovoltaic markets.

Educated as Physicist and Ph.D. in electrical characterisation of high resistivity silicon. Worked in the European manufacturing industry between 1992 and 2010 on product development, process optimisation, cost modelling, R&D, sourcing, and Quality Assurance. Professional in almost all steps of the PV value chain including: Silicon Feedstock; Elkem Solar (production of upgraded metallurgical grade Silicon), Norway + various start-up projects. Technical and commercial business manger, 2005-2007. Crystal growth; Topsil Semiconductor Materials (Float-Zone silicon monocrystal), Denmark. Responsible for build-up of a PV business division. 1992-2005 Wafering; Topsil Semiconductor Materials (slicing of monocrystals), sole-supplier to Sunpower’s high efficiency cell pilot plant in Texas. 2002-2004. Solar glass; Vetro Solar, Solar Valley, Germany. R&D Manager responsible for Antireflective coating, 2007-2010. Utility scale PV; European Energy (design, engineering, construction, financing and O&M of PV projects. 2007. Advisor on regulatory topics, (Danish PV Association, SolarPower Europe, Semi standard, Danish Energy Agency and member of IEA PVPS Task 13 on Performance and Reliability of PV systems)

Carsten Rohr VP Business Development at NorSun AS, a manufacturer of premium monocrystalline silicon wafers based in Norway, and has about 20 years’ experience in solar energy. He is also vice-chair of the European Solar Manufacturing Council. Before he started at NorSun in 2007, he was senior analyst in the Sustainable Energy Analysis team in the UK Government Department for Environment. Carsten obtained his PhD in physics from Imperial College London in 2000, and Masters degree from RWTH Aachen in 1997.

Jan-Philipp Becker is a principal scientist at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Stuttgart, Germany. His enthusiasm for solar energy began in 2008 during his master’s thesis at the Fraunhofer ISE researching silicon heterojunction solar cells. In 2014, he received his Ph.D. degree from the RWTH Aachen University in the field of thin-film silicon solar cells. During a post-doc at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, he developed integrated devices for solar hydrogen generation based on multi-junction solar cells. After two inspiring years consulting in the automotive sector, he returned to his subject of passion when he joined the ZSW in 2019. He is currently the deputy head of the department of Photovoltaics: Materials Research. His research focuses on the development of materials and production processes for perovskite and CIGS solar cells and modules.

Dr. Jutta Trube works as Division Manager of VDMA Sector Group Photovoltaic Equipment since December 2015 and is engaged especially in production equipment for the solar cell and module production. With this position at VDMA she is responsible for the yearly updates and publication of the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV). Furthermore, she is working as a Vice Managing Director of VDMA Sector Association Electronics, Micro and New Production Technologies.
Prior to her engagement at VDMA she worked as Research and Development Director and Director of New Technologies in vacuum equipment manufacturing. The markets concerned photovoltaic, architectural glass as an energy saving element, storage technology, display technology, and other areas. 
Dr. Trube studied physics at the Georg-August University in Göttingen and got her doctorate in electrical engineering at the Technical University in Berlin.

Stephan ABERMANN is Head of the AIT Competence Unit “Energy Conversion and Hydrogen” and European Patent Attorney. Previously he worked as Head of New Technology Scouting at D. Swarovski in Austria. Holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Vienna University of Technology), a MSc in Building Science and Technology (Vienna University of Technology) and a MSc in Materials Sciences (Montanuniversität Leoben). Stephan ABERMANN is member of the epi -Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPA, the Board of ESMC -European Solar Manufacturing Council and the Editorial Board of the journal Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells.

Lars Oberbeck is an expert in solar technologies with more than 20 years of experience both in academia and industry. He received a diploma in physics from the University of Hanover and a PhD from the University of Stuttgart, specializing in crystalline silicon solar cells. After working for the semiconductor company Infineon and PV manufacturer SolarWorld, Lars joined Total to head the solar R&D department. In his current role as expert for solar technologies, Lars assesses both crystalline silicon and thin-film solar technologies and their various applications from a technology and cost perspective. He provides expertise to teams within Total and works at the Institut Photovoltaïque D’Île-De-France (IPVF) as Program Manager for techno-economic and environmental assessment of PV technologies.

Dr. Rentsch received his Ph.D degree in physics in 2005 from the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany. He studied physics at the Technical University of Braunschweig and obtained his diploma degree in 2002. Dr. Rentsch is member of various Scientific and Programme committee boards (e.g. EUPVSEC, UCPSS, EUROSOLAR Russia, IRSEC). His current work focusses on the acquisition and management of public and industrial funded projects, the publication and licensing of R&D results, the transfer of processes and cell structures in the PV industry as well as consultancy on and auditing of PV manufacturing facilities worldwide. Within his department of about 70 people, Dr. Rentsch is responsible for its strategic development and management as well as the supervision of PhD, master and bachelor theses. In 2006, Dr. Rentsch set up a platform for seminar courses related to crystalline silicon PV topics (Website: www.pv-training.org) offering in-house as well as open seminars covering Basics of c-Si PV, production technologies, metrology as well as specialised seminars focussing on particular topics of interest (wet chemistries, passivation, ...).

Hugo Schoot is the Business Director within Endurans™ Solar, the former DSM Advanced Solar, a wholly own subsidiary of Worthen Industries. Endurans™ Solar is the global market leader in fully recyclable co-extruded backsheets and conductive backsheets for back-contact PV modules, with production facilities across Asia, Europe and the USA. Hugo has 33 year business experience in a range of markets, of which 12 years in the solar industry. He has been responsible for the development and commercialization of a range of innovative materials for the solar market and is now leading the conductive backsheet business of Endurans™ Solar.